Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie for My Friend Michael Twitty and #LetsLunch

FOREWORD to a blog post?Well, yes. This post is part of a covered-dish/food blogging cook-up, whereby a bunch of my fellow food bloggers cook on a theme, once a month and share them under the hashtag #LetsLunch. Check us out on twitter, or scroll down to the end of this post where I’ve listed this month’s contributing food writers. Delicious, creative, fascinating posts. You will have a good time Lunching with us! Thanks for visiting my blog right here. And now, back to Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie…

Tyler pie is an old-school pie, still known and loved in its original home of central Virginia where its namesake, President Tyler, was born and raised. Whether he actually loved it or ate it there or elsewhere is something we cannot know, but we do know a bit about this splendid dessert because Edna Lewis tells us about it in her magnificent cookbook, “The Taste of Country Cooking”, published in 1977 and still in print and cherished today. Tyler pie is a luscious version of egg custard pie, with more sugar, more butter, and a splash of lemon extract. I had read about Tyler pie, which has also been called Tyler pudding throughout history, even with its crust and other pie-like qualities, but had never had one until this year. I came across one in Richmond, Virginia last June, during a delightful walking tour led by Richmond Food Tours, a tour which included stops at excellent bakeries. Inspired, I began baking Tyler pie and find that many people share my delight in this classic pie.

I love walking tours, especially ones like this one which treated us to bakeries, neighborhoods, historic churchyards, restaurants and more.

Southern Foodways Alliance organized a Richmond tour back in June, and that is why I ended up strolling the fascinating city and having my first up close and personal encounter with Tyler Pie.

I loved “Well-Made Pastry Alliance/WPA Bakery”, and wish I could be a frequent visitor.

When my friend Michael Twitty came over for supper during July, I served him some Tyler Pie and he fell for it right way. Mike had an event coming up in September, a culinary history celebration at Historic Stagville, a plantation outside Durham NC which is a North Carolina Historic Site. Mike had plenty to do as organizer and guiding light for Stagville Harvest Festival which took place on September 7th. I joined a group of pie-loving friends to become a member of the Pie Brigade, whose mission it was to supply pies to the event so that people could have a ‘taste of the past’ in a beautiful, moving setting on an early fall day.

I took this photo of the discussion from the back so that I could include the handsome huge ancient black walnut tree shading us on a sunny afternoon.

Here is the Historic Stagville Pie Brigade on that memorable day! Me on the left in red; Matthew Glassman, Debbie Moose, and Claire Cusick.

Debbie Moose was our Pie Wrangler and Brigade Commander, making sure that tempting tastes of multiple pies were out to delight event guests all afternoon. People enjoyed them so much. Each Pie Brigade member brought several old-school pies. Mine were two Tyler pies and two wild persimmon pies, the latter made with frozen persimmon puree from last year’s crop.

There are but two of Debbie Moose’s excellent and seasonal blackberry pies. She has got that lattice-top crust DOWN!!! They were as just as good as they looked. Wish I had photos of Claire Cusick’s glorious apple pies, Matthew Glassman’s oatmeal pies and white sweet potato pies, and Marcie Cohen Ferris’s apple pies, but I appear to have been distracted by eating their samples. Here’s the recipe for Tyler pie:

RECIPE: Edna Lewis’s Tyler Pie

2 9-inch pie crusts

Filling:

4 eggs

2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon of flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (1/2 lb) of slightly melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

2 cups milk

To make the pie:

Keep the piecrust chilled while you prepare the fillling ingredients.

Beat the eggs well in a large bowl.

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a medium bowl and stir to mix well.

Add the sugar mixture to the beaten eggs and mix well.

Add the butter, vanilla, and lemon extract, and stir to mix everything together well.

Add the milk.

After one final stirring, pour the filling into your pie crust pans, dividing it evenly between the two..

Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes, until filling is set and handsomely browned. Males 2 pies

This post is part of #LetsLunch , a monthly food bloggers’ community celebration, where lots of wonderful writers/cooks/photographers post on the same topic. This month it’s “Pie!”. Here are some of my friends’ posts on the subject for your reading cooking pleasure. More coming right here later today, so do check back…. Okay, I just posted this update. A few more to come but this gives you lots of Pie Pleasure and Inpiration. All my food blogging pals had a mighty good time making pie, and I think you will love reading and seeing what they cooked up. Follow them for e-mail inbox inspiration…..

Falling in love with this splendid cookbook is as easy as pie. You’ll find recipes and reminiscences of life in Freetown, Virginia back in the early part of the twentieth century, shared in beautiful prose and practical recipes by the great Edna Lewis.

To learn more about Michael Twitty’s work and travels, check out his blog here:

I’ll leave you with a clue about the kind of pie I’m hungry for now: Black Walnut! That glorious black walnut tree shading Mr. Twitty and company during their conversation on September 7th has a good but still green crop of black walnuts; And I’m hoping to get some black walnuts later this fall for Thanksgiving pie-making.

hahahahaha I know, right? Simple old-school goodness in that pie, and such a feast for tummy, eyes, mind, and spirit at that event. Love cooking with people, and cooking-gatherings, and culinary history come to life, and by the way, the food tasted SO GOOD. Thanks for these kind words.

Thank you, Rebecca, so kind. It was a marvelous day in so many ways, and I’ll be sharing more about it very soon. I just posted his picture of the yeast rolls he made out under the shade trees, and cooked in a dutch oven in the coals, on our @CHOP NC Facebook page. They were unbelievably beautiful and so tasty, and they just came together so fast. One minute he was gathering roll-makers to help shape them, and next minute there they were. Not ‘quick and easy’, but yes, in fact, quick, and easy, and deeply good.

You’re right — it was a precious, deep experience, festive, poignant, and inspiring, with a fascinating feast and lively company to ground us all in the ordinary-ness of it. Many of us were murmuring, “They need to do this again!” If they do, I’m so in… Thanks for reading and commenting here.

I know, right? I meant to comment on that — it was an extra delight to me, because it shows that they are offering lots of good things for lots of people, and not just one item on the side. Which is a great start, not to knock any generosity that any business can provide. Thank you for your kind words; honored.

Me, too, Lucy. I have fallen in love with that book all over again, finding recipes and essays that I had never noticed before.”Treasure” is the appropriate word, right? And Pie lifts any occasion up, right? That Debbie Moose — she has got that down. I have never done one right — I start and then say Oh Bother! and just lay them out in two layers. I need to barter with her for a how-to session, whereby I bring her some Asian ingredients and she shares that skill…Thanks for reading.

Two things.
First: I get a huge shipment of black walnuts sent to me every year by a friend’s mom’s tree in MO. Well, actually she sends them to him but he won’t eat them. Don’t let that story get out, ok? His mom thinks he loves black walnuts.
Second: Another story to keep (from my California friends). I miss the south. I miss sitting on the lawn where everyone can see you… XOGREG

Your secret is safe with me, Sir. I completely adore that story, because it is the perfect resolution, everybody getting what they need, you helping your friend, love expressed between them without letting Black Walnut Affinity/Lack Of get in the way. Come on out here and visit some time. We’ve got lawn, screened in porch, gliders, the works!

Yes, indeed, you certainly will. I adore them and am looking to expand my repertoire, though the pie is wonderful enough, as is old-school persimmon pudding. I read about persimmon cookies ,and why not pound cake? Might be a reason, but I know how to find out. I’ll keep you posted….

Nancie: Nice to “meet” you today! You have a “no-reply” blogger address, so there is no way to email you directly, thus this comment!.
But also, from reading above, I have to say that Edna Lewis is a large part of the reason we came to this area, and also found Fearrington Village. I adored following her in Gourmet in the late 70’s (I think) and also tasted her cooking in NYC at Cafe Nicholson under the 59th St. bridge… But I was absolutely smitten with the images of this magical place near Chapel Hill where she cooked!
Last, I must try Tyler pie. It looks fabulous and just the kind of thing we like.
Maybe we can get together this winter, when Mary James returns!

Oh my husband will love this custard pie. It’s the old traditional recipes that are always the best. Plus I trust your choice of a recipe. This will be perfect at our dinner table soon. Thanks for all the blog support, the warmth of your friendship and sweet welcome to the #LetsLunch group. Someday soon, I hope we can share a cup of tea, a slice of pie and share lots of stories. Have a great week, Nancie!